Administrative Burdens for Citizens Learning Team

The subject of administrative burdens reduction is high on the European political agenda. Spring last year the European commission launched an Action Programme on the reduction of administrative burdens for businesses. The ministerial declaration agreed during the e- government conference in Lisbon last September, focuses on the importance in reducing administrative burdens with the use of ICT.

An increasing number of countries is also working on the reduction of administrative burdens for citizens. More European cooperation in this field is desired. Interesting asset would be comparing the way public services (high impact services) are delivered, and identify the good practices that can be used to serve as inspiration for others in terms of reducing administrative burdens and realising other benefits.

The 49th meeting of the Directors General responsible for Public Administration held in Lisbon, welcomed to work within the European Public Administrations Network by means of horizontal learning teams on issues like administrative burden reduction. Subsequently a learning team was composed, comprising members of the e-government working group, IPSG and country experts not linked to a EUPAN working group. January 2008 the kick off session was organised in The Hague, the Netherlands. In April a follow up meeting took place in Helsinki, Finland. The learning team was met with enthusiasm. Seventeen countries signed up, and during the two meetings, members actively shared their country experiences.

The goal of the learning team is formulated as following: - To look into methodologies to benchmark, bench learn and exchange European bestpractices in the field of reducing administrative burdens for citizens with special focus onhigh impact administrative burdens. - Exchange experience and gain practical knowledge of national approaches andmethodologies to measure burdens and to identify possible improvements and actions for simplification.